Generally speaking, the process outlined below is how amateur radio operators
signed up with the Oahu RACES program are alerted.
Since the conditions vary with each situation,
the actual alert and activation varies with each incident.

With certain incidences, primarily those involving weather,
it is possible to get some advance notice.
Hurricanes, strong storms and weather systems are a few such examples.
In these cases, the RACES and ARES leadership may call one another up on the phone
to discuss the upcoming weather situation and begin preparations.

For weather-related incidences during normal working hours,
the weather bulletin is sent from the National Weather Service (NWS)
to Hawaii State Civil Defense (SCD) Warning Point located in Diamond Head crater,
which makes a determination to alert and activate as necessary.

For substantial earthquakes in the Pacific region that may generate
tsunami alerts for Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) issues
an alert through the tsunami alert network,
the HAWAS network and the NOAA network.

For weather situations that occur outside of normal working hours,
or if the incident involves a rapidly evolving situation such as a tsunami alert
or a national defense alert, the alert is typically received by the Hawaii
State Warning point, which is located within Birkheimer tunner in
Diamond Head crater that is manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Hawaii State Warning point alerts a number of agencies,
including a Oahu Civil Defense Agency staff member,
which then evaluates the situation and if necessary,
activates the responder notification system.
A number of means are employed, including

text messages sent to cell phones

digital messaging pagers for the leadership of the volunteer units

a digital voice recorder/player unit which has automatic telephone dialer
capabilities for calling a list of people and relaying a voice message

individual telephone tree and messages

Other agencies may get the alert notification faster,
depending on the individual circumstances of the alert.
Agencies such as the National Weather Service, Hawaii State Civil Defense,
Hawaii Chapter of the American Red Cross are examples of agencies that may
possibly get the notification before Oahu Civil Defense Agency.

If possible, a quick discussion takes place to confirm the activation times
and arrangements for coordination.
The exact course of action is influenced by factors such as the time of day,
the area to be affected by the incident, the likelihood and fashion that
the incident will escalate, for example, so no two activations are alike.
The OCDA leader phones and notifies the Net Control Station
to start a command net on the 146.88 Mhz Diamond Head repeater
and provide direction as initially determined through the phone discussions.
The NCS station takes check-ins and status
updates while the OCDA Quick Response Team (QRT) is alerted,
activated and responds to the OCDA Headquarters Emergency Operating Center (EOC).

Other nets are opened as needed for State Civil Defense (147.06),
Skywarn (146.88), Healthcomm (147.22) and American Red Cross (147.34).
Additionally, each outlying OCDA district may establish
command and operations nets on repeaters and simplex frequencies as needed.

As the situation permits, an HF net is established from State CD's EOC
at Diamond Head to further link the island chain.

Additional RACES/ARES personnel are alerted via digital pagers, cellular phones,
phone calls and similar means.
Personnel that are alerted respond to their assigned area of operations,
taking along the necessary equipment and provisions.

Operations nets are activated on other repeater,
simplex and HF frequencies as the situation develops.